The Harare regime has unleashed a wave of terror as
votersprepare to go to the polls

ORGANISED gangs
loyal to Robert Mugabe have kidnapped and beatenhundreds of opposition
candidates to stop them from registering for thismonth's local
elections. As Zimbabwe's President attended the United Nations
GeneralAssembly in New York, his opponents in Harare released a dossier
showing hownearly 600 of their 1,200 candidates had been blocked from
contesting theballot. Leaders of the main opposition party, the Movement for
DemocraticChange (MDC), said that Western powers were so obsessed with
dealing withIraq that they were ignoring President Mugabe's worsening reign
of terror.

Paul Themba Nyathi, the MDC's Director of
Elections, who has metForeign Office diplomats in London, said: "Mugabe is
acting with impunitynow because he knows he can get away with it. Western
leaders talk aboutdealing with tyrants, so how does Mugabe
escape?"

MDC candidates have been kidnapped and beaten to
stop them fromregistering in time for the September 28 elections. Police
roadblocks havebeen placed at registration centres in some parts of the
country to baraccess by MDC candidates and armed militias have waited
outside a number ofoffices to intercept opponents attempting to meet the
deadline. Somecandidates are still being held hostage.

Mr
Nyathi said: "So who do we complain to about this? Thecourts, the police,
the election officials are all in Mugabe's pocket. Lookat who the
beneficiaries are who are being given previously white-ownedfarms - judges,
army commanders, secret police chiefs, senior policemen; sowho maintains the
law? "The West is more concerned about the confiscation ofwhite-owned farms
and Mugabe's performance at the Earth Summit to monitorthis latest episode.
It doesn't matter what sort of intimidation is employedduring campaigning if
you have stopped nearly half of the opposing side fromeven
standing."

For his part, Mr Mugabe told the UN yesterday that
Zimbabwe hadcast off the "colonial yoke for all time", and attacked Britain
and TonyBlair. He said: "I appeal to this General Assembly to convey to
Britain andespecially to . . . Mr Tony Blair that Zimbabwe ceased to be a
Britishcolony in 1980 after Prince Charles had gracefully lowered the
British flag.

"He should also be informed that the people of
Zimbabwe waged anarmed revolutionary struggle for their independence and
stand ready todefend it in the same way."

The campaign of
intimidation in Zimbabwe is worse than thatduring the presidential election
campaign earlier this year. Mr Mugabe won,but international observers said
that the election was flawed. For the voteon the last weekend of September
there will be no outside observers.

The MDC's dossier alleges
that one of Mr Mugabe's ministers,Didymus Mutasa, led a Zanu (PF) mob in
Manicaland that was stoppingopposition candidates from registering. In
Chegutu a mob stormed thedistrict offices, assaulted MDC officials and
abducted Hilda Mafudze, thelocal MP.

In Midlands South,
100 miles (160 km) south of the capital, 36candidates pulled out of the
election and 20 other aspiring councillors wereassaulted and
tortured.

Typical of the assaults was the midnight abduction
last month ofWilson Mabhera, the MDC chairman in Hurungwe. He was woken by a
group of menwho said that their lorry had broken down and asked for help. As
he steppedoutside he was dragged to the lorry where he recognised some of
his Zanu(PF) opponents. He was beaten for two hours and told he would be
killed ifhe stood in the election.

The MDC leader has
begun a court challenge to March'spresidential election. He has also warned
that the growing frustrationinside Zimbabwe is leading to a "people's storm"
which is ready to take onwhat he calls the President's "civil-military
junta".

MDC leaders have restrained their followers from
massdemonstrations because they fear that the security forces will be
ordered touse "extreme force" against any protest.

Mr
Nyathi said: "Frustration is boiling over. There is hungerand soon there
will be starvation. If you remove their only hope, which isthe election,
then what have people got left but to protest?

"The West does
not think Zimbabwe is a priority and so Mugabecan do what he wants. It's too
late for any observer force. The damage hasbeen done. This election is the
worst fraud yet."

ANY keen
follower of the utterances of President Mugabe andInformation and Publicity
Minister Jonathan Moyo will have been tempted, atone point or another, to
use an idiom such as the Shona mbudzi kudya mufenjehufananyina or mhembwe
rudzi inozvara mwana ane kazhumwi to describe theirsingularly similar
mercurial characters. Both idioms mean the same thing.Their English
equivalent is "Like father like son".

But since Moyo is not
Mugabe's son and the two men's relationship isnot in any way sanguinary, it
would be more appropriate to use theexpression "birds of a feather flock
together" when talking about the closeworking relationship between these two
corrosively acid-tongued gentlemen.

Not only do they have not a
single kind word for anyone who seesthings differently from them, but they
also have perfected the art ofvulgarity and coarseness in speech totally out
of keeping with theirstations in society - what we would call shasha
dzekutukirira in Shona.

There were women who had that reputation in
every neighbourhood in the"locations" in days gone by, and no one would ever
want to engage such womenin an argument. They would verbally undress you in
public.

Each time Moyo and Mugabe open their mouths it will be to
spit venomupon whoever will have been unfortunate enough to say or do
anything theydon't particularly like, especially something critical about
the government's myriad of misdemeanors, transgressions and downright
criminal acts againstthe people of this country.

If the truth
be told, the government of which Moyo is spokesman iswidely regarded as
technically illegitimate anyway, both in and outsideZimbabwe. But that is
besides the point. It is Mugabe and Moyo's completelack of decorum in both
speech and conduct - a fact which has brought theoffice of the President
into total disrepute and shorn the incumbent of anyvestige of dignity -
which is The Mole's main concern here.

It went so far beyond even the farthest boundaries of
human decencyinto territories which it is doubtful even the most
foul-mouthed women inthe "locations" of old could have dared enter. And all
because Tsvangiraihad told the government a home truth the junior minister
would rather notcountenance.

Assisted by the ever obsequious
editors at The Herald who, in linewith the falsehoods peddled by Moyo in
their story, published Moyo'sutterances under a completely misleading and
defamatory headline "Tsvangiraicalls settlers 'Stone Age', Moyo called
Tsvangirai all sorts of names.

In a speech on Monday at a seminar
organised by the Mass PublicOpinion Institute, Tsvangirai said in part: "The
total emasculation of thepeople's political power has been complemented by
another strategy to reducethe majority of the population economically to the
level of Stone Agescavengers, available for manipulation and abuse by Mugabe
and his cronies."

This is very straightforward and "quite clear" -
to borrow Moyo'scurrent favourite phrase.

All that Tsvangirai
was saying is that, because of the government'sdisastrous economic policies
and Zanu PF's politics of expediency astypified by the rushed and chaotic
"land reform", the people of this countryhave been reduced to scavenging for
food as people used to do during theStone Age.

We all know that
some people in the rural areas are now having to eatroots and wild fruit to
survive. We also know that some villagers nearmission boarding schools are
surviving on left-overs retrieved from bins atthe schools' dining halls
because they have nothing to eat.

Is that not being reduced to
scavengers?

And who is responsible for the country running out of
food by stoppingfarmers from growing food and chasing them off their farms?
The governmentof course! But Moyo and his mouthpiece seized on the
use of the expression "StoneAge scavengers" to distort the import of
Tsvangirai's message to make itappear as if he was disdainfully referring to
newly resettled farmers.Almost everyone in this country, including
urbanites, is now scavenging.

Obviously with an aim to incite
maximum national resentment againstTsvangirai (an uphill task, if the truth
be said), The Herald's story kickedoff thus: "MDC leader, Mr Morgan
Tsvangirai, was at it again yesterday whenhe attacked thousands of people
who have benefited from the land reformprogramme by describing them as
'Stone Age scavengers'.

"The Minister of State for Information and
Publicity, ProfessorJonathan Moyo, said Mr Tsvangirai was a 'typical example
of a puppet singinga colonial song for his puppeteers (sic)'.

"He said when the British colonised this country they brutalisedZimbabweans,
destroyed their homes, looted their property and denied themevery human
rights (sic), (haven't we heard this enough times now?) callingthem 'savage,
stone age scavengers' (now, that's certainly a new line as faras anyone can
recall).

"Now their puppet is reminding them of that. Anybody who
thinks thatZimbabweans who have benefited from the land reform programme are
Stone Agescavengers (could it be the Professor himself who so thinks?) does
notdeserve to be ever taken seriously. People are sick and tired of this .
.. "

No, Professor, if by "people" you mean the majority of
Zimbabweans,you are certainly mistaken.

People will never be
sick and tired of what Tsvangirai says. And thereason is very simple: he
speaks their language; he articulates all thehopes, wishes, aspirations,
fears and anxieties in every Zimbabwean outsidethe small circle of the
beneficiaries of Mugabe's misrule.

But then, of course, we all know
that when Moyo says "people", hemeans one person only: himself. Because,
being an appointee of Mugabe, hecan not lay any pretensions to speaking on
behalf the people. He seems tothink Mugabe is "the people". And that's
really sad.

The people have long ceased to take him seriously and
instead, if theconstant snide remarks being made about him are anything to
go by, many people are now feeling sorry for him. Some actually believe
he is nowsuffering from some terrible affliction.

That kind of intemperate and clearly undiplomatic language belongs inthe
dark alleys of the ghetto, not in Cabinet offices. Suffice it to saythat if,
by Moyo's own reckoning, Tsvangirai is a puppet of the British,which is of
course not true, Moyo himself is a puppet of the man whoappointed
him.

In short he is "His Master's Voice" (Remember those old
gramophonerecords of the 1950s?), which is why they speak the same language.
Both menhave lost touch with the people and, in the process, have also lost
therespect of the entire Zimbabwean citizenry.

I, too, would tell the world to
keep out of Zimbabwe because of itsshameful state

9/13/02
9:33:42 AM (GMT +2)

President Mugabe created a stir at the
World Summit on SustainableDevelopment a few days ago with angry words which
he spat at Britain. Hesaid: "So Blair, keep your England and let me keep my
Zimbabwe." ThePresident clearly believes that he owns Zimbabwe and will be
in powerforever. He spoke about towering elephants and roaring lions, about
land andsatisfying the needs of his land-hungry people.

I cannot help but wonder just exactly what it is that Mugabe has to beso
proud about. The things that I see and hear are cause for deep shame
anddisgust and not national pride. After 29 months of political turmoil and
thealmost complete cessation of commercial agriculture, small towns are
fallingapart. Marondera, like dozens of others, is an agro-based town. Its
wealth,jobs, industries and companies were all dependent on the land and
farmersand as these people are increasingly forced out of their homes, the
town hasbegun to collapse. In Marondera town the commonest sight is of
crowds ofpeople who are always waiting for one thing or another. On the
pavements andoutside, the few companies still operating, crowds of young,
hungry men,stand around waiting on the off-chance of a day's
employment.

Outside every single supermarket and shop, men and
women wait on theoff-chance of a delivery of food. They wait for sugar,
cooking oil,maize-meal and salt. This week even more people are waiting -
for bread andflour, for petrol and diesel.

Outside every single
government office, hordes of people wait for bitsof paper - paper which
tells them which piece of land they may or may notoccupy; whether their
application for government project money has beenapproved; whether their
request for seed, fertiliser or school fees has beenaccepted or not. Outside
the once beautiful Marondera municipal offices thisweek, lines of tired and
thin women sit with their hungry babies waiting fora piece of paper with a
government stamp on it entitling them to queue formaize at the town's Grain
Marketing Board. At the main Marondera hospitalthere are hundreds of people
sitting, waiting on the ground in the sun - fora doctor or a nurse, a pain
killer or bandage. Around our town litter iseverywhere, the roads into the
suburbs are mapped with deep craters whichused to be potholes, two out of
every 10 street lights work and nine out of10 street signs have been stolen.
On the 67km journey from Marondera toHarare the neglect is phenomenal.
Almost all the farms have been taken over,the fences are gone or falling
down and the fields are deserted, burnt orbarren. Travelling this road late
on a Sunday afternoon, the new owners ofthese farms turn out onto the
highway where every single road sign has beenstolen for its tin and most of
the cats' eyes have been dug out of the tarfor their aluminum
bases.

If these people driving home into a glowing red sunset are
landlesspeasants then, as my parents used to say, I'll eat my hat. They are
drivingZ$20 million Pajeros and Mercedes, they are Zimbabwe's new weekend
andcellphone farmers who acquired their new properties as rewards for
theirdirty deeds in almost three years of political campaigning. For almost
threeyears the farmers have been crying out for help, but their calls have
notbeen heeded by the people living in their luxury houses in Harare.
Perhapswhen levels of neglect, poverty and destitution similar to that in
Maronderaarrive in suburbs like Chisipite and Borrowdale, then town and
countrypeople will stand together and say it is enough. Perhaps when towns
likeMarondera, Karoi and Kadoma no longer exist, Zimbabweans will pay the
priceof their silence. Zimbabwe's small towns are dying, her people are
starving,dirty and desperate - and Mugabe tells the world to keep out of
"hisZimbabwe". I, too, would be ashamed and not want anyone to see what
isbecoming of us. I too would say "hands off" and "keep out" if this is what
Ihad to show for 23 years of being in power.

TWO war veteran leaders are allegedly trying to forcibly take over a$230
million Bindura engineering firm, Hammond Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, indefiance
of a High Court order issued on Wednesday last week.

Justice
Charles Hungwe issued the order, in default, which interdictswar veteran
Mukutu Henry Kowerai Hamadziripi, his colleague EdwardChikerema, and six of
the company's former workers from interfering with thecompany's business
operations.

But yesterday, Chikerema reportedly led a group of
about 50 Zanu PFyouths to evict the company's owners, George Hammond and his
wife Elaine,who are both in their 60s. The mob proceeded to eject Peter
Arnold, thecompany's managing director, from his home.

"Arnold
actually saw Chikerema drop off the youths in different groupsfrom a car, a
Mazda B1800, that he stole from him three weeks ago," MarkBromley, a
director of the company, said yesterday.

"Although we reported the
theft of the motor vehicle at Bindura PoliceStation nothing has been done to
Chikerema who resides in Bindura's Chipadzetownship. "The mob
actually said it did not want them anywhere in MashonalandCentral province
by 5pm today. They manhandled Arnold and confiscated keysto his house, car
and workshop. We have reported the matter to the policewho said they would
see what they could do."

Hamadziripi and Chikerema had tried to
force the Hammonds to sell thecompany for only $65 million, before Hungwe
granted the company a temporaryorder barring the two war veterans and the
six workers from interfering withthe business.

Augustine
Chihuri, the Commissioner of Police, and the OfficerCommanding Mashonaland
Central Province were ordered to ensure that the warveterans and the
ex-workers do not enter or loiter within a 100-metre radiusof the property.
The police were ordered to arrest any of the eight andbring them before the
High Court to explain should they defy the order. Thewar veterans and the
workers had in August allegedly detained and threatenedto assault a deputy
messenger of court, who tried to serve them notice toappear in court. They
directed the messenger to Elliot Manyika, the Ministerof Youth Development,
Gender and Employment Creation, who was accused ofblessing the company's
closure in February by war veterans and 24 workersdemanding their severance
packages, although the company was not shuttingdown.

I
listened with disgust when our undignified President was given thepodium at
the just-ended Earth Summit in Johannesburg. I was really ashamedto hear him
talk himself out of topic in such a way that I wished the groundcould just
open up and swallow me rather than have the rest of the delegateswho knew me
turn their eyes towards me with an expression on their facesthat said: "Is
this the type of persons you have for presidents in
yourcountry?"

Instead of addressing issues pertaining
to saving the earth frompoisonous emissions and desertification, Mugabe
thought this was theopportune time to attack British Prime Minister Tony
Blair with such venomyou couldn't believe it's coming from a man as old as
Mugabe. Africa ingeneral and Zimbabwe in particular needs good governments
before it canaddress the issue of growth, poverty and disease in earnest.
How can oneexpect development to thrive in an environment fraught with
corruption,fraud, favouritism, factionalism and selfishness? The so-called
land reformprogramme is only meant to serve the interests of the senior
people in thegovernment, police and army.

What happened to all
those young and energetic graduands fromagricultural colleges like Gwebi,
Chibero, Esigodini and Kushinga ever sincethey have been coming out of these
colleges from 1980 to the present day?What you do think the likes of Shuvai
Mahofa can accomplish on the landcompared to these graduates? "Blair should
keep his Britain while I keep myZimbabwe," bellowed Mugabe in the now only
too-familiar childish tantrumsfashion. But what is he doing to avert the
looming starvation which isfacing the very people he is purporting to keep?
What has he achieved bykicking out the people who put food on the
population's tables? Where is thesalt, let alone the mealie-meal, for the
people? Does he know that thehenchmen he gave those stolen farms only go
there to hunt and shoot downanimals and to destroy the ecology in direct
contrast with the theme of theEarth Summit he was addressing for all the
wrong reasons?

PATRICK Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and
ParliamentaryAffairs, on Wednesday told Parliament the government would soon
come up withcomprehensive measures to deal with opposition MPs who walk out
of theHouse.

Chinamasa was responding to a question by
Chirumanzu MP, InnocentChikiyi, on whether there was no law to deal with MPs
who boycott thePresident's speech.

"This is a clear lack of
patriotism on the part of the MDC and it is acause of concern for the
nation," Chinamasa said, amid jeering by oppositionMPs.

"They
did not only boycott the opening session but they have beengoing around the
country and all over the world, lobbying for sanctions andmilitary
intervention by other countries.

"We are looking into ways and
means against MPs who exhibit evidenceof unpatriotism when they have sworn
an oath of loyalty to the country," hesaid.

The MDC MPs walked
out again when debate on the President's speechresumed soon after Chinamasa
had threatened the government would take actionagainst them. The
MPs first walked out when President Mugabe officially opened thethird
session of the fifth parliament in July.

They said they would not
listen to his speech because their party'sposition was that President Mugabe
was not the legitimately elected leaderof Zimbabwe.

The MDC is
challenging Mugabe's victory in the High Court, citingmassive rigging and
intimidation.

The MPs again walked out on Tuesday when debate on
President Mugabe'sspeech started.

Later, Chinamasa skirted a
question by Pumula-Luveve MP, EsaphMdlongwa, on why Mugabe had increased the
size of the Cabinet when thegovernment had no money. Three ministries were
also formed.

"The number of deputy ministers has increased from
nine to 12 and thisis at a time when the workers of this country are heavily
taxed.

"These deputy ministers do not act in the absence of Cabinet
ministersand they do not attend Cabinet meetings.

"We wonder
why they are being increased," Mdlongwa said. Chinamasasaid he would not
respond because the issue had nothing to do withgovernment policy.

AT least
11 teachers in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces have notreported for duty
since the beginning of this year's third term, citingrampant intimidation
and assaults by Zanu PF youths and war veterans, theProgressive Teachers'
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said yesterday.

Takavafira Zhou,
the PTUZ president, said the union was helping threeteachers from Mutasa
Secondary School in Buhera District named as Mr and MrsMuti and Ms Tariro
Marabanda. "Muti was seriously assaulted while his wifewas intimidated to an
extent that the two had to flee the area," Zhou said."The couple was treated
at a hospital in Harare." He said at Mutasa PrimarySchool teachers were
harassed by Zanu PF vigilantes over the school holidaysand some of them were
even threatened with death. One victim from thatschool was identified by
Zhou only as a teacher called Svinurai. He saidSvinurai had also fled to
Harare. In Masvingo, Zhou said more than sixteachers at Mapanzure Secondary
School were beaten up and failed to reportfor duty. "It is unfortunate that
there doesn't appear to be any concertedeffort by the responsible ministry
officials, politicians and the police toend the victimisation of teachers,"
Zhou said.

"The whole education system is in tatters and the
country will soonfeel the consequences. Teachers must seriously consider
putting thisvictimisation to an end by any means necessary." Stanislous
Chikukwa, anational executive member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans'Association who is based in Manicaland, dismissed the allegations
as a smearcampaign against the war veterans.

Chikukwa said: "I
now believe there is a conspiracy going on. It's notsurprising that they are
saying all these bad things about us. It's time forus to take legal action
and sue these liars. "Even in America, civilservants abide by the rules of
the government of the day. Why shouldZimbabwe be different? "I am not saying
it's true that we beat up teachers.On the contrary, war veterans are the
most disciplined group of people inthe country. But it is not that we are
timid. If they want to play thosegames, let them do so and we will see what
will happen." WinnieChirimamhunga, the Regional Director of Education for
Manicaland, could notbe reached for comment. Efforts to get comment
yesterday from AeneasChigwedere, the Minister of Education, Sports and
Culture, were alsounsuccessful

THE MDC yesterday accused Amos Midzi, recently appointed Minister ofEnergy
and Power Development, of emulating his predecessors by misleadingthe nation
about the fuel crisis.

Midzi last week said there were adequate
fuel reserves in the countrybut long queues have resurfaced at most fuel
stations as diesel and petrolhave begun to run out.

Silas
Mangono, the shadow minister of Energy and Communications,accused the
government of deceiving the nation.

"The government continues to
lie and give people the assurance thatthe country will never run out of
fuel. Ambassador Midzi has taken after hispredecessors, Sydney Sekeramayi
and Edward Chindori-Chininga, inmisinforming the nation that all is well
when the situation on the ground isa different story," Mangono
said.

He said the "so-called fuel deals", which the government had
strucksince the fuel crisis in 2000, had failed to arrest the
problem.

"The nature of the deals is never explained to the people
of Zimbabwewho will bear the cost of the loan repayment for generations to
come. "Thesecrecy that shrouds the details of these deals gives credence
tospeculation that huge tracts of land acquired under the fast-track
disasterhave been parcelled out to the Libyans, in addition to other
State-ownedassets," Mangono said. Mugabe, Midzi and other senior government
officialswere in Libya early this week, reportedly to negotiate a new fuel
deal forthe country. Large portions of land in Mvurwi and other areas in
MashonalandCentral were reportedly given to the Libyans as part payment for
fuel.

"The so-called Libyan investment in infrastructure
development isactually an exchange of Zimbabwean assets for Libyan oil
without adhering tointernationally acceptable standards of competitive
bidding in the disposalof our national assets," Mangono said.

He said the fuel deal with Libya was like payment for fuel through
thecolonisation of Zimbabwe.

The only solution was to allow
private entrepreneurs to procure fuelin order to bring about fair
competition and price stability.

THOUSANDS of settlers at Whitecliff Farm near Harare could
be sittingon a health time bomb as there are no proper sanitary facilities
such asclean drinking water and toilets.

The settlers, who
have been on the farm for two years and have renamedit Tongogara Park,
recently defied a ministerial directive to vacate
thesettlement.

lgnatius Chombo, the Minister of Local
Government and Public Works andNational Housing tried in vain to evict them
after informing them thesettlement posed a health hazard, not only to the
settlers but also to theresidents of nearby Greater Harare.

Chombo, who declared two months ago the illegal settlers would beforcibly
evicted from Whitecliff Farm, could not be reached yesterday.

The
settlers warned him to immediately drop the eviction plans if hewanted to
retain his job.At present the settlement has no proper waterpoints and the
settlers have to walk long distances to fetch water. Somesettlers who spoke
to reporters yesterday said they were worried about theirhealth as they
feared there could soon be a cholera outbreak.

Solomon Manjengwa, a
settler, said: "We live in constant fear ofdisease outbreaks here because
people relieve themselves anywhere in thebushes.

"There are no
toilets and there is no water. We have tried to alertthe authorities of this
dangerous situation and they promised to dosomething, but up to now nothing
has been done."

Manjengwa said the situation was being aggravated
by the continuedallocation of plots to more people by war veterans at the
squatter camp.

A snap survey conducted by The Daily News in several
supermarketsaround the city revealed that while the bakers say there is no
bread, theysell bread to their friends and relatives through the back
door.

A bakery manager at a supermarket in the city, who
declined to benamed, said although no one had been caught taking
money from customers, they wereaware that something fishy was taking
place.

"It's a sign of the times. People are desperate and will do
anythingto secure a loaf of bread, and if the bakers are gullible they fall
for it,"he said.

One customer observed doing this said it was
the only way he wasguaranteed of bread every day as he could not afford to
feed his family onanything else.

Meanwhile some supermarkets
are now only baking milk loaves which sellat $125 each while the price of
bread on the black market has gone up to$150 from $100.

Howard-led troika hardens on MugabeBy Dennis
Shanahan14sep02JOHN Howard is expected to go to Africa soon for a
Commonwealth summit toimpose tough new sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The
Prime Minister, South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria'sPresident
Olusegun Obasanjo have been working for more than two weeks on howto take
tougher sanctions against President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe andhis
government.

Mr Howard made a lightning trip to London last April to meet
his fellowmembers of the "troika" in charge of Commonwealth action against
the formerBritish colony. It is likely Mr Howard will meet Mr Mbeki and
GeneralObasanjo in Nigeria soon.

Mr Mugabe has ignored all the steps
the Commonwealth has taken so far andthe calls from other nations, including
the US, to reform Zimbabwe's economyand political process.

Several
nations, including South Africa, have declared that Zimbabwe'srecent
elections were corrupt and that people in Zimbabwe face faminebecause of the
forced removal of white farmers from their
land.

Political opposition has been crushed in
Zimbabwe with critical newspapersclosed down and politicians
jailed.

At the South Pacific Forum three weeks ago Mr Howard, as the
leader of thetroika, was urged to take more action against Zimbabwe for its
continuedbreaches of human rights and electoral corruption. After the London
meetingZimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth for 12
months.

During the Earth Summit in South Africa Mr Mugabe struck out at
Britain, theUS, Australia and New Zealand accusing them of colonial and
racistbehaviour.

"What colour are they, most of the people there?
White," Mr Mugabe said.

"They are the ones leading in the fight against
Zimbabwe, the fight ofresisting the completion of the independence process
that began in 1980."

Mr Mugabe's tirade against Britain was met with
applause in South Africa butCommonwealth leaders took it as a sign that he
would not react to thecurrent sanctions.

"It's clear he's not taking
any notice," a government source said this week.

There has been a series
of communications between Australia, South Africaand Nigeria in the last two
weeks.

A meeting of the three leaders is now likely before the end of the
month andexpulsion from the Commonwealth for Zimbabwe as well as travel bans
on MrMugabe and his ministers are expected to be considered.

David
Parirenyatwa, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, lamentedthe exodus
of qualified health professionals from the public service at ameeting with
James Morris, the director of the World Food Programme inBindura last
week.

In remarks broadcast on national television, he
criticised SouthAfrica and the United Kingdom for recruiting nurses,
pharmacists, doctorsand other key staff after the government had spent
millions of dollarstraining them. It is unclear what Parirenyatwa expected
to achieve byraising this subject with Morris when he must know the causes
of the braindrain which has wreaked havoc to the health delivery system. He
must knowthe answers too. The government - not Morris, South Africa or
Britain - hasthe power to create an enabling environment for the citizens it
has trainedto stay and work at home. Health professionals are treated like
dirt by thisgovernment which prefers to reward, as a fairly routine
priority, thepolice, the army and ex-combatants, to buy off their loyalty.
Money is beingdiverted to raise their salaries, buy tear-gas, armoured cars
and otherweaponry to punish the opposition.

For that reason,
solutions to the now perennial dispute between healthworkers and the
government remain elusive. Their employers, the PublicService Commission and
Parirenyatwa's ministry, seem overwhelmed by themerits of the workers'
grievances. In the past 10 years, the government hasattended to the health
sector's concerns on a piecemeal basis, usually aftera strike. Under the
circumstances, no health professional would sneeze at ajob offer from South
Africa, the United Kingdom, the private sector -anywhere. The latest case
involves paramedics, on strike for the past threeweeks. Although they
resumed work yesterday, are there any guarantees thatthe ongoing talks will
result in a long-term and sustainable agreement thatprotects the most
vulnerable segment of our society against the government'scasual attitude
towards their plight? Last year, both doctors and nursesstruck for almost
two months. If major public hospitals can stay closed forso long, then the
government has little use for all the health workers. Itis pushing health
professionals out of the country.

Junior doctors went on strike in
August. Their case ended when theproffered solution distorted the entire
salary structure and grading systemin public hospitals. Their new packages
raise their pay to the level ofspecialists and physicians. The sight of poor
patients writhing in pain orlying in hopelessness waiting for the results of
laboratory tests, X-rays orpain killers is now common. Diabetics were hit
particularly hard as therewas no one to check their blood sugar levels.
Victims of rape, robberies,muggings and sodomy could not be attended to,
resulting in a loss of vitalevidence and a delay in the hearing of cases
because of the failure by thepolice and prosecutors to obtain the requisite
expert assessment of thecases. Catering staff and dieticians stopped work,
making it impossible forpatients requiring special nutrients and diets to
access them. The story wasthe same for those with hypertension, cancer and
cardiac diseases. Renal andblood tests were abandoned. Also closed were the
tuberculosis, parasitologyand bacteriology departments. Those attempting to
check in with suspectedmalaria, diarrhoea and meningitis were sent home, or
referred to councilclinics.

In effect, public hospitals became
a danger to the lowly-paid who can't afford private care. Patients had
nowhere to turn to while the governmentmoved from pillar to post, blaming
South Africa and Britain.

Parirenyatwa, a medical doctor, must be
ashamed to remain in officeunder these deadly circumstances. A notable but
deadly contagion to thecurrent shortage of food has been a rise in the cases
of the chronic aspectof malnutrition which has been compounded by the total
collapse of analready stressed public sector because of perennial strikes by
doctors andcrucial support professionals. Those patients who survive,
especiallychildren, risk stunted growth and other forms of permanent
disability.

FORT Street in Bulawayo, between Second and
Tenth avenues, is nowknown to many streetwise citizens here as "Wall Street"
or "The World Bank".The former name is derived from the New York street of
the same name, andthe latter comes from the sister institution of the
International MonetaryFund, in Washington, DC.

It is
estimated that at any given time, dealers handle more than US$1million in
cash in that section of the Bulawayo street. Other than wads ofnear
worthless Zimbabwe dollars, the vaPostori women also have
internationalcurrencies such as the Botswana pula, the South African rand
and therecently introduced euro "in stock". This is a feat that
somewell-established banks have found impossible to match. Hundreds
ofmoney-changers from different sects of the vaPostori faith block
thepavements as they jostle for business. "Lisiphatheleni?" (What have
youbrought us?) they ask of people who might look like prospective
clients. The growth of the illegal foreign currency market has seen
thelifestyle of the once-poverty stricken community improve, in spite of
thefact that most of them are seen as semi-literate.

Yet now,
some obviously well-heeled members of the denomination can beseen driving
expensive cars while others have moved to elite suburbs likeBurnside and
Matsheumhlophe. So well-bonded are the illegal foreign currencydealers that
following the death of one of the most well-known vaPostorisect members,
Maxwell Kutsanzira in Bulawayo last week, the Zimbabwe dollar"crashed"
briefly against all major currencies. Mercy Maphosa, a foreigncurrency
dealer along Fort Street, explained its collapse. "Kutsanzira was aprominent
member of the maPostori community and because of his standing inthe
community, a lot of people, including a large number of dealers,
attended hisfuneral wake and burial. "This naturally affected foreign
currency deals.The value of foreign currency against the Zimbabwe dollar
increased due toscarcity."

For years, the maPostori were
derided by their fellow countrymen fortheir way of life. They are basically
uneducated because for years, theyshunned modern institutions and facilities
such as schools and clinics. Malemembers keep their heads clean-shaven and
beards long, and wear flowinggowns which made them easy targets of ridicule.
From a young age, boys wouldbecome apprentices either in carpentry,
shoe-making or train as tinsmiths.The typical male muPostori was one who
went around selling tin cups,containers and other kitchen utensils made by
the tinsmiths. Girls wouldalso "major" in chores believed to be in the
women's line of work, such ascrocheting. And to top it all, they worship in
what their critics say is a"bizarre" manner. They sing and worship in the
bush all night and make theirway home at the crack of dawn.

There were, of course, the attendant scandals, of prophets "praying"for
women whom they would allegedly rape. Society's attitude was summed upby
Zexie Manatsa in the 1980s when he released the seven single, Tea
Hobvu,which gave the impression that members had an unquenchable thirst for
tea.But for now, according to Sarah Marange-Mpofu, a member of the sect,
themaPostori have through the lucrative but illicit foreign
currencytransactions, graduated from living from hand-to-mouth to
conspicuousaffluence. Now their lives have changed. "For a long time, we had
miserablelives but we realised that by dealing in foreign currency, a
scarcecommodity countrywide, we would be able to sustain our families," she
says."Remember, many people in our community are not well-educated and we
saw anopportunity to improve our lives. Although our operations are illegal,
werealise enough profit to support our families."

Despite a
crippling scarcity of foreign currency in formalinstitutions such as banks,
the abundance of foreign currency among membersof the sect has baffled many.
The sect members maintain a strict code ofsecrecy concerning their
operations. "I can't discuss that with you,"Marange-Mpofu said pointedly.
However, some Bulawayo residents have accuseda well-known businessman, who
runs a foreign exchange bureau on the samestreet of using members of the
sect as fronts. The allegations werevehemently denied by Marange-Mpofu.
"That is just gossip. People just wantto believe we are not capable of
thinking for ourselves. We are our ownmasters." As hardships continue to set
in, some enterprising Bulawayo women,realising that dealing in foreign
currency is a lucrative venture, havejoined the trade. Maphosa confided:
"Some people who are not members of ourchurch have flooded Fort Street to
buy and sell foreign currency. What isannoying is that in order to fit in,
they are also wearing the distinctivewhite clothes which are our trademark."
Maphosa said the "encroachment byoutsiders" had resulted in turf wars along
Fort Street.

"Some people masquerading as members of our church
have been 'advised'to use adjacent streets like Jason Moyo and Herbert
Chitepo because they arenewcomers." But can members of the sect, famous for
being devout believerswho worship on Saturdays, still claim to be
worshippers? Even on Saturdays,they can be seen dealing in foreign currency.
"Of course, we still worshipon Saturdays," said Maphosa. "The women you see
on the streets on Saturdaysare the people who pretend to be part of us but
expose themselves onSaturdays because that is a day when genuine members
would be attendingservices." As they pursue the elusive dollar, the women
are exposed to a lotof hazards, including mortal danger. Reports of the
money-changers beingconned or robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars
appear regularly in thePress.

Some women, in an effort to avoid
detection by police, have gone intostrangers' cars or houses to change
money, resulting in unfortunateincidents. But none has been as ill-fated as
Magdalene Mhaka of Pumula. Shewas lured into a car by a man who claimed he
wanted to change a substantialamount of foreign currency. Her bullet-riddled
body was discovered a fewhours later in Paddonhurst suburb, minus the
money.

REGINALD Matchaba-Hove, the
chairman of the Zimbabwe Election SupportNetwork (ZESN), this week
challenged the MDC to consolidate its power basein urban areas to prove to
the electorate that it is a viableopposition.Matchaba-Hove commended the
MDC-dominatedHarare City Council forits performance since coming into office
in March.

The ZESN chairman was speaking at a public meeting
held at a Hararehotel organised by the Mass Public Opinion Institute under
the topic:Reflections on the Zimbabwean Crisis: What is the
Future?

"This is a new reality in today's politics. You have all
theopportunities to turn around the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
"Yourstrength is in the local government and parliamentary
elections.

"Critics of this effective council are beginning to
realise that itmeans business," he said.

"People are asking
where all the potholes have gone in a short periodof time. That shows that
you are an effective alternative to this regime."

But Matchaba-Hove
said the MDC should take a firm stand in the face ofbrutal attacks on its
membership by government and ruling Zanu PF partysupporters.

Other speakers included the MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, andBrian
Raftopoulos, a researcher at the University of Zimbabwe.

Matchaba-Hove said it was important for the MDC to contest all theelections
in the country and provide an effective political leadership thatfulfilled
people's aspirations."He said the MDC and Zanu PF should resumethe aborted
talks, initiated by Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki, thepresidents of
Nigeria and South Africa, respectively, to broker a lastingsolution to the
political and economic crises in the country.

He said: "This
diplomatic path should remain open."Failure to do somay mean that we will
remain in this crisis for some years to come.Re-engage the international
community and continue this struggle to freedom."

During
question and answer time, several commentators castigatedZimbabweans for
their docility despite mounting violation of their rights byPresident
Mugabe's supporters.

A woman who attended the meeting said: "Mr
Tsvangirai, you won thisMarch presidential election. You are the people's
president.

"Women and children are being starved in the rural
areas. People arebeing tortured and killed but the MDC is silent. We need
action now."

THE MDC youth
assembly yesterday dismissed allegations of a partyleadership crisis as
reported in State media.

It said it "unreservedly and
uncompromisingly" supported the speech bythe party leader Morgan Tsvangirai
on Monday, attacking President Mugabe'sdictatorial tendencies.

The assembly's response followed distortions by The Herald andZimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation that Tsvangirai described resettled peopleas "Stone
Age scavengers".

In a statement, Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's national
youth chairperson,said Tsvangirai's speech reiterated the MDC's commitment
to the struggle fordemocracy and people's determination in the quest for the
objectives andfundamental ideals of the liberation struggle.

Chamisa said it was sad that at a time when people were starving "as aresult
of the government's failed policies, the same regime was busy dishingout
propaganda not realising that people do not feed on lies".

State's application for closed hearing in war vet Moyo's
trialdismissed

9/13/02 9:28:56 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

The State yesterday unsuccessfully applied for the
criminal defamationtrial of war veteran leader Mike Moyo to be heard in
camera on the groundsthat witnesses felt intimidated by the presence of
hundreds of Zanu PFyouths at the Harare Magistrates'
Courts.

The application was made by Ben Chidenga of the
Attorney-General'sOffice. Two police officers, State witnesses in
the case in which Moyo ischarged with criminally defaming Peter Lunga, the
commanding officer of theCID, said they felt threatened and intimidated by
the presence of theyouths.

Magistrate Walter Bherebhende heard
how Moyo is alleged to havedefamed Lunga at a meeting of Zanu PF's
provincial executive at Stodart Hallin Mbare on 10 November last
year.

The State said it would not be in
the best interests of justice forthe two State witnesses to give evidence in
open court.

They also wanted restrictions placed on the publication
of the namesand addresses of the two State witnesses for their own
safety.

Aston Musunga, Moyo's lawyer, told the court the reasons
advanced bythe State were not valid. He said: "The people here in court have
come tolisten to the trial of their national leader. They cannot be denied
theright to hear the evidence which the State is advancing against
him."Musunga said Moyo's supporters had not exhibited any degree of violence
inor outside the court.

Proceedings in camera were usually
restricted to where juveniles weregiving evidence in rape cases. Musunga
said: "I don't see why publicofficials should be protected from giving
evidence in court." He said theidentities of the two State witnesses were
already known. Dismissing theState's application, Bherebhende said: "The
State must show that its casewill be seriously prejudiced if held in open
court.

"The State failed to show that the witnesses had been
threatened orintimidated. The State also failed to show why they should be
protected andwhat they should be protected from."

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government is to rush new
laws through Zimbabwe's Parliament that will make it easier to seize white-owned
land. It would increase the penalty for farmers who disobeyed eviction orders,
the country's state press reported on Thursday. The Herald said Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa notified Parliament on Wednesday that he would introduce a
bill that would remove legal requirements that had slowed down the process of
land seizures. A drive last month to force over 3 000 farmers off their property
was only partially successful because state officials bungled the orders and
were overturned by the courts. Last week Chinamasa admitted there had "not been
full compliance" with the issue of 90-day eviction orders. However, he warned
that "no farmer should take any comfort from failure or oversight by government
officials" because he would introduce laws that remove the legal protection for
property owners. The Herald said Chinamasa gave notice he would ask Parliament
to lift legal requirements to allow his proposed amendments be discussed first
by ministerial committees and by his legal committee.

The current law obliges the government to reissue eviction
orders which give the farmers affected another 90 days in which to wind up their
affairs. The new law would give the farmer with a reissued order only five days,
the Herald said. Most of the 3 000 eviction orders issued last month were
nullified by a high court order which ruled that they had to be served on both
the owner and any financial institution holding a bond on the property at the
same time. In terms of Chinamasa's proposed amendments, the government would be
able to serve them on the financial institution at any time. The current law
said the government had to prove in court that the land it wanted to seize was
"suitable for agricultural resettlement". The amendments would do away with the
clause. The amendments would also increase the fine for non-compliance with an
eviction order from Z$20 000 to Z$100 000. The government has said it intends
seizing 11-million hectares of land and claims it would leave the commercial
farming sector of 4 500 families with 200 000
hectares.

Truth gets outIden
WetherellWE say goodbye to another fine journalist this week. Griffin Shea
of AgenceFrance-Presse who has worked in Zimbabwe for two years has been
refused arenewal of his work permit.

This comes as no surprise.
Information minister Jonathan Moyo told AFPdirector Denis Hiault when he
came to Zimbabwe in July that the permits ofnon-resident employees of news
bureaux like AFP would not be renewed onexpiry.

This is part of
his general crackdown on the media. Moyo this week sought tojustify the
government's move by fatuously claiming that Shea, who isAmerican, would not
be allowed to help the US topple Zanu PF from power.

Needless to say,
Shea had shown no such inclination. AFP is French, notAmerican, and the
government has always sought to portray the Quai d'Orsayas sympathetic to
its misrule.

I shall be interested to see what excuse Moyo trots out
when he declines torenew the AFP's French bureau chief's permit in
November.

Shea, as far as I know, did nothing in particular to offend
Moyo but isnevertheless the target of his childish abuse. Nobody has been
"screaming"over the non-renewal of Shea's permit, as Moyo suggested. Just a
soberstatement from RSF. And nobody will believe Moyo's claim that Zimbabwe
is a"constitutional democracy underpinned by the rule of law". The
evidenceoverwhelmingly points to a lawless state scared of the
truth.

"We are not a Banana Republic wanting to please foreign
journalists," Moyotold the Herald. "In this case our law is clear. No
foreigner should beresident here as a journalist."

He is
evidently ignorant of the terms of his own legislation which make itpossible
for a permanent resident of Zimbabwe to continue working as ajournalist. It
was one of several amendments to the draft Bill forced on himin January. But
I was interested to see that in the same article the Heraldis claiming there
is "some legal ambiguity" about whether there are one ormore classes of
permanent resident.

This is of course completely untrue. The law is
unambiguous on the status ofa permanent resident. But what we have here is
an indication of what theAG's office will attempt to argue in a forthcoming
case as it wriggles on ahook of Moyo's own making.

The refusal by
government to extend Shea's work permit is part of a futileattempt to
prevent the bad news about Zimbabwe getting out. But so long asthe
government behaves badly and enacts bad laws, it will get the press
itdeserves - in most cases.

Some foreign correspondents who are
allowed to travel freely to Zimbabwehave leant over backwards to provide
what they believe is balanced reportingof events here. For instance, the New
York Times reported last week that ithad been a good week for President
Mugabe. He was cheered at theJohannesburg Earth Summit, the paper said,
while Colin Powell was jeered. Itquoted him attacking farmers as "greedy,
greedy, greedy colonials".

"Mr Mugabe is criticised in the West for
encouraging blacks to invadewhite-owned farms, for hounding journalists and
judges, and for jailingopposition party leaders. But to some leaders,
particularly in Africa, he isa hero," the paper reported.

Only
much further down the article do we gather from Tendai Biti that
someAfricans - such as Zimbabweans - might also oppose his policies.
PresidentAbdoulaye Wade of Senegal and UN secretary-general Kofi Annan have
urgedofficials in Harare to respect the rule of law, we are told. But Mugabe
hasdismissed such criticism as "nonsense", the New York Times says,
concludingwith a quote from the president claiming: "We brought democracy to
thiscountry. We brought freedom. We brought human rights."

The
claim goes unchallenged.

The New York Times in May carried an equally
"balanced" report on Moyo'smedia crackdown.

"Government officials
say the moves are necessary to stop irresponsiblejournalists from filing
false reports that have damaged Zimbabwe'sreputation," it
reported.

Among those arrested was American journalist Andrew
Meldrum, it noted.

Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted as saying journalists were
"trying to do downwith the government".

Commenting on the New York Times' one-dimensional view
of the mediaconflict, Meldrum told the Committee to Protect Journalists in
New York thatthe article made it appear that there was an evenly-matched,
two-sidedstruggle instead of a battle to keep the free press
alive.

"By taking the approach that 'on the one hand this and on the
other handthat', the article neutralises the importance of this struggle to
keep afree press alive in Zimbabwe," Meldrum pointed out.

"This
description of a 'tit-for-tat' reporting feud trivialises what ishappening
here. It makes it appear that it is a fair contest where bothsides throw mud
at each other," Meldrum said.

"As I know you are aware," he told the
CPJ, "the privately-owned press isbattling against great odds to report
about human rights abuses, corruption,economic collapse and a breakdown of
the rule of law. These are not merelynegative stories, they are the very
stories that an independent press issupposed to do to hold a government
accountable," Meldrum said.

"Equally, the government press is not
simply reporting negative storiesabout the opposition," he said. "The
state-owned press is carrying out ashrill propaganda campaign that vilifies
anyone or any group that dares tostand up and criticise the
government."

The New York Times' article reported on the new press
law without raisingany questions as to its suitability in a democracy, he
pointed out. "Itmakes it seem perfectly ordinary that to make a factual
error should be acrime."

Meldrum, as we know, won his court case.
The Access to Information andProtection of Privacy Act proved a defective
weapon in the government'sclumsy hands. But the government's vindictive
campaign against alljournalists who refuse to submit to its threats or
blandishments willcontinue.

Griffin Shea's name will now be added
to the rollcall of foreigncorrespondents booted out because they refused to
camouflage Mugabe'smisrule. But, with the exception of occasional
indulgences, is our rogueruler getting a better press as a result of this
crackdown? It doesn't seemso. The truth has an inconvenient habit of finding
its way out!

AS President Robert Mugabe savours his new-found glory wrought by
hisanti-British bluster at the Earth Summit in South Africa last week, he
stillhas to contend with the sad reality that without international support
hisagrarian revolution is doomed.

In December Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, reversing an earlier SupremeCourt judgement by Chief Justice
Anthony Gubbay, ruled that government hadin place a proper land reform
programme.

Buoyed by the Supreme Court endorsement of its agrarian
undertakinggovernment decided to proceed with the expropriation of
commercial farmlandto effect a resettlement programme that was widely
expected to encounterproblems so long as it did not follow the basic tenets
of legality andsustainability. International financial support would only
come with donors'endorsement of the agrarian policy.

In 1998
government convened a donors' conference to mobilise support forphase II of
the resettlement programme. Agreements were signed between thegovernment and
key donors keen to proceed on the basis of a trial programmethat would later
be expanded based on the success of the experiment.

That was too slow for
the Zanu PF government, which wanted somethingdramatic to shore up its
support ahead of the 2000 parliamentary election.

Thus only a few months
after the land conference, war veterans and Zanu PFsupporters began to
invade white-owned farms. President Mugabe refused tostop the farm
occupations and his implicit - later open - support wasclearly a breach of
the understanding with the donor community. The donorssubsequently suspended
all cooperation with government in the land reform.

In 2000 World Bank
counsel John W Bruce wrote: "The future of the landreform is now very much
in question. The reform cannot move forward in aproductive fashion without
the donor funding needed to cover majorresettlement costs, including costs
for both productive investments andservices. The economic situation of the
country is desperate, with inflationmoving out of control."

Numerous
attempts by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) tobroker an
understanding between the government and donors have come tonought as Mugabe
said Zimbabwe would go it alone. But the chickens werealways bound to come
home to roost. The current agrarian exercise has allthe ingredients of
failure to achieve intended targets as long as there isno international
support.

In a stark indictment of Mugabe's current agrarian plan, United
Nationssecretary-general Kofi Annan last month reiterated the need
forinternational support to the resettlement programme.

"There can be
no lasting solution to the current problems unless thegovernment of Zimbabwe
implements a phased and fully-funded land reformprogramme. It should be one
that is run according to the rule of law, thatallows for proper training and
adequate support to new small farmers andcompensation to displaced farm
workers and commercial farmers," Annan saidin a statement.He said such a
programme was "urgently needed in order tominimise the negative effects of
the current situation on food productionand the overall economy in
Zimbabwe".

"It would also ensure the engagement and future support of the
internationalcommunity," he said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
in side meetings at the Earth Summit,said his government was prepared to
avail funds for the agrarian plan aslong as the money was channelled through
the UNDP. Zimbabwe had to go backto the 1998 undertakings of the donors'
conference and the Abuja Agreementof September 2001.

Under the
Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, the United Statespledged to
avail US$20 million for the resettlement programme and paymentfor land to be
resettled. This is, however, on condition the country returnsto the rule of
law.

Opposition MDC secretary for lands Tendai Biti said any
internationalmonetary support for the current land reform programme was
out.

"The issue of giving money to Zimbabwe underthe present governmentis
anon-starter," said Biti."Mugabe cannot be trust-ed. In September last
year,the world was celebrating the Abuja Agreement and we said the world
shouldnever trust these guys.

"Twelve months down the line, our
protestations have been vindicated. Anyreincarnation of the Abuja Agreement
or in other form is headed for dismalfailure," he said.

Western
diplomats, sp-eaking on condition ofanonymity, said the op-portunityfor
their res-pective governments tofund the resettlement programme
wasirretri-evably lost as the Zimbabwean government was not prepared to
disbandthe current exercise.

"Mugabe believes that Western donors
have a soft spot for white farmers,"said a diplomat.

"He sees this as
slowing the momentum of his revolution if he co-operateswith donors in
implementing the plan."

But myriad problems lie in the way of Mugabe's
resettlement programme.Zimbabwe requires $78 billion to finance this year's
crop and banks aregenerally reluctant to make available the required funds.
This comes at thesame time as another huge undertaking the government has to
fulfill - food,fuel and power imports for the nation. Government has
struggled over thelast nine months to secure adequate food and, with the
little resources atits disposal, it has to strike a delicate balance between
importing food andfunding the agrarian revolution.

The UNDP has
refocused itself from brokering for resources for theresettlement programme
to seeking humanitarian assistance for Zimbabwe.

The government last
month concluded it had successfully completed the landreform exercise but
its self-serving definition of success will notimmediately translate to
putting food on the table and rebuilding theheavily-depleted grain
reserves.

There is the spectre of another drought looming and this
requires planningto expand the existing irrigable land. Despite the
construction of numerouslarge and medium-sized dams throughout the country,
these have not beenfully utilised to irrigate crops due to the absence of
infrastructure foruse by farmers. Even now when the country might experience
a rainfalldeficit, there is still no such infrastructure in place and it is
notpracticable to put it in place before the rains. Worse still,
existingirrigation facilities have been vandalised and pillaged by gangs
takingadvantage of the eviction of farmers.

Experts say at least $5
billion is required to put up basic infrastructurelike roads, clinics,
schools, boreholes, Blair toilets and dip tanks inresettled areas.
Multi-lateral donor agencies were instrumental in settingup such
infrastructure and their support is required to do the same inresettled
areas.

Even in a good rain season, there is no guarantee that
resettlement wouldresult in bigger yields. Studies have shown that farmers
resettled duringthe first phase of the programme before 1998 are still
producing at almostthe same levels as their counterparts in the communal
areas. Thousands ofextension workers who have been employed by the
Department of AgriculturalResearch and Extension Services (Arex) have not
been fully-utilised asfarmers, especially in the A2 scheme, have not taken
up their plots.

Seed and fertiliser inputs have to be delivered to the
new farmer on time totake advantage of the early rains. But as of now, the
government is yet toraise money for that. Government is still to reach an
agreement with seedcompanies and manufacturers on a new price regime. There
was chaos incommunal and resettled areas last year when fertiliser was
delivered beforeseeds which were only made available as the rains tailed off
in January thisyear. Such mayhem and organisational deficiency cannot be
ruled out thisyear as distribution of inputs is already
late.

Horticultural producers say major markets for fresh produce have
been lostand Zimbabwe has to labour to regain its market share in face of
stiffcompetition especially from South Africa.

Analysts say Mugabe
can demonstrate to the West that he does not need theirmoney by coming up
with an agrarian programme that is orderly, sustainableand which guaranteed
food security. That is not the case at the moment asZimbabwe's food crisis
has made Mugabe even more dependent on the West.

ALTHOUGH this column has previously addressed the distressing brain
drainbeing experienced by Zimbabwe and its appalling consequences, the
verymarked loss of critically required skills dictates that the issue
berevisited. The pool of expertise available to Zimbabwe is becoming
everless, with disastrous repercussions upon the economy. Daily one
becomesaware of yet more who either have left Zimbabwe for pastures further
afield,or who are upon the threshold of departure.

The greatest
single contributor to the mass emigration of accountants,architects,
engineers, electricians, fitters and turners, medical personnel,and numerous
others who are highly trained, is the distressed state of theeconomy. Most
find the continuous upsurge of inflation unbearable, for asrapidly as they
may access increased incomes, those incomes are eroded. Formany, their
standards of living are in continuous decline.

For the lucky few, they
are able to maintain their lifestyles, but havelittle or no expectations to
improve upon them. The majority need every centof their income and more, to
fund that which they perceive as essential tocontinuing their way of life,
and have therefore had to abandon saving andinvestment. For them,
accumulation of wealth is no longer possible, withinevitable resulting
concerns as to financial security in later life.

The brain drain is
particularly pronounced amongst those who are under 40years of age, they
being more readily able to translocate to othercountries, and being
concerned that the state of Zimbabwe's economy is suchthat they will never
be able to acquire their own home, and the only motorvehicle they may ever
be able to use will be employer provided. And thebrain drain is not confined
to any particular sector of Zimbabwean society.Whites, blacks and Asians are
all flooding out of Zimbabwe.

That this is so is readily apparent from
authoritative estimates that thereare at least 40 000, and possibly as many
as 70 000, Zimbabweans resident inthe United Kingdom. (Some of the recent
national census cynically commentthat the results cannot possibly be
accurate, as the enumerators failed toinclude Harare's latest suburb -
London!). Many thousands more throng theeconomies of South Africa, Botswana
and other neighbouring countries, as domany in Australia, New Zealand,
Canada and the US.

In the main, the only Zimbabweans who have not joined
the mass exodus todistant lands are those who are either unable to qualify
for entry intoother countries, or who are too aged to embark upon new career
paths indifferent economic environments, or those who are able to exploit
thecorruption-ridden opportunities that characterise Zimbabwe
today.

But it is not only that the ravages of a government-created
economy in theextreme destruction mode motivates mass emigration. Many are
unable toreconcile to a most uncertain future in the prevailing
politicalenvironment, being one devoid of the fundamental principles of
democracyand, instead, verging upon near authoritarianism, and one wherein
humanrights are discarded, and the preservation of law and order is of
almostzero concern to those who rule the state.

This has been
particularly so for many of the farming community who havewitnessed all that
they have striven for over decades being unceremoniously"stolen" from them
on grounds that they had allegedly "stolen" themoriginally. That such
allegations are devoid of foundation, and that thefarming community has been
very willing to facilitate a just and fair,constructive programme of
agrarian reform is irrelevant. But not only havethey been subjected to the
loss of their lands and their homes, they havealso been forced to abandon
their irrigation and other equipment, farmmachinery and most of their
possessions.

To add insult to injury, after they have been reduced to
near bankruptcy,they are forced by the state to pay many millions of dollars
to their formerworkers as severance and retrenchment packages,
notwithstanding that thetermination of employment was not at the instance of
the farmers, but asbrought about by the state, enforced by thousands of
gangsters who areenabled to flout the law without compunction.

It is
therefore not surprising that highly skilled farmers who couldcontribute
massively to economic recovery and to a successful land reformprogramme are
flocking out of the country into the welcoming arms of Zambia,Mozambique,
South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, all of whom recognisethe magnitude
of the skills of those farmers, and the massive potential tothe economies of
those countries that the farmers will develop.

Another major contributor
to the disillusionment of most Zimbabweans as tothe deteriorating future are
the spurious, specious, incredibly false, andfrequently racist, stories
published in newspapers controlled by the statein general, and by the
Minister of Fiction, Fable and Myth in particular.

Like stories which
stretch the minds of listeners and viewers to the extremebecause of their
manifest lack of realism and plausibility, are continuouslyflighted on the
audio and visual media. So far-fetched are they that thepublic to whom they
are addressed fear the development of a completelytotalitarian state, and
the further collapse of an already almost derelicteconomy. They recognise
that the misrepresentation, confrontation and racismrepresented by the
far-fetched headlines and articles destroy whateverlimited business
confidence may exist undermining the residues of theeconomy. They also fear
that the incredible mouthings of the media couldwell be a camouflage for
even worse conditions than those of which they areaware.

The examples
of the abuse of the principles of freedom of speech areendless. Two of the
innumerable instances which can be cited were the frontpage stories of the
Herald just over a week ago. The lead story under abanner headline stating
"Plot to sabotage economy" alleged that "Westerndonors want to contaminate
Zimbabwe's agricultural produce to sabotage theeconomy".

It cited the
Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, JosephMade, as
contending that donors were offering Zimbabwe genetically-modifiedfood
because "some people could germinate GM grain, causing it to pollinateand
pollute Zimbabwe's pure grain" and stock feed, in which event Zimbabwewould
then be unable to export grain, beef and poultry, "effectivelyderailing the
economy".

If Western states did wish to destroy an economy, they would
have far moreeffective, and rapid ways of doing so without resorting to a
hit and missstrategy of a possible pollution of agricultural output.
Moreover, due tofoot and mouth disease, Zimbabwe presently has little
opportunity to exportbeef, and has no grain for export, whether this year or
in the foreseeablefuture. Most of all, how is it possible to derail an
economy when it hasalready been derailed to such an extent that there are no
economiclocomotives or coaches left upon the rails?

The same paper
announced with very great pride that government "has ploughedmore than 5 500
hectares of land for the newly resettled farmerscountrywide". Is that not a
really spectacular achievement! Out of 9 millionhectares acquired by the
state for resettlement, a magnificent 5 500 havebeen tilled! At the very
best, they can yield 15 tonnes of maize, andprobably less. That will next
year feed Zimbabwe for all of three days. Somuch for food
security!

Any thinking person who reads such stories, of which there are
dozens eachday, fears - with some justification - that they are nothing but
a cover-upfor even greater economic ills than those of which they are aware.
Afterall, it was in February last year that government claimed that there
wouldbe no lack of food, its responsible minister having witnessed its
growth"with my own eyes"!

Only eight months later (before the
drought) it was appealing forinternational food aid. So when the media carry
stories which even the leasteducated know cannot be true, the surmise has to
be what ills are beingconcealed with government "huff and puff". The
consequential insecuritybecomes yet another trigger for emigration of the
skilled and yet anotherdeterrent to investment.